Vauxhall
is on a charge with its
green
Ampera range
extender
electric vehicle  after being rolled
out in Holland, France and Germany,
the Ampera will reach UK show-
rooms in May 2012...PRICED AT £34,000 (although the Government's £5,000 grant for environmentally-friendly
vehicles knocks this down to £28,995), one of the Ampera's strongest
selling points will be that it overcomes the 'range anxiety' associated
with pure electric vehicles while delivering the benefits of very low running
costs  Vauxhall estimate that to fully charge the battery
pack for a 50-mile journey will cost just £1; that's a tenth of what
it costs for a petrol or diesel powered car to make the same trip.

And with the vast majority of drivers doing round trips of well under 50 miles
a day, they could probably get away with not needing to use the Ampera's petrol
engine at all to extend the range before returning to base and plugging-in for
a re-charge. In EV (full electric) mode the range is approximately 50 miles;
the petrol-assisted extended range is around 260 miles, making a total estimated
range of 310 miles.

As I prepared to get into
my test Ampera,
another one rolled
silently through the car
park and I had to make
a reality check 
had I gone deaf?
Then, as I shut my
drivers door and heard
the reassuring thud,
I knew I was about to
experience a totally new
driving experience...

As
I prepared to get into my test Ampera, another one rolled silently through the
car park and I had to make a reality check  had I suddenly gone
deaf? Then, as I shut my driver's door and heard the reassuring thud, I knew
I was about to experience a totally new driving experience.

The four-seat Ampera's body and cabin has been designed in Europe and is very
different to its sister car  the Chevrolet Volt, already on sale
in America. The Ampera has a sweep-around look to the cabin and the multitude
of displays, the stack of touch-sensitive buttons on the centre console and
the purposeful stalks and switches give the cabin the look of the flight deck
on the space shuttle.

Not quite as groundbreaking as the Shuttle, the Ampera will nevertheless take
drivers on a revolutionary hybrid journey unlike anything with four wheels that's
gone before.

Conventional hybrids make use of an internal combustion engine backed up by
an electric motor whereas the Ampera uses two electric traction motors to power
the car and these are backed up by a comparatively small 1.4-litre petrol engine
acting as a generator and known as a 'range extender'.

In appearance, the simple transmission selector is broadly similar to a conventional
automatic  in the Ampera it selects Forward, Reverse, Neutral and
Hold functions. No major relearning is required; the button-operated parking
brake, electric steering and footbrake are all in the conventional style.

Press the power button and the system goes live with dials illuminated; select
D with the lever, toggle the handbrake button forward to release the parking
brake and you're ready to go.

Forward progress is remarkably smooth with very low noise levels from the tyres
and it gives the impression of being an executive car of a much larger size.
Accelerating or easing off, the throttle response is good. Braking is strong
 and whenever you brake the regeneration system puts 'energy' back
into the lithium-ion battery. The Ampera also turns smoothly, albeit a little
lifelessly for me.

While the comparatively flat roads around Amsterdam did not really test the
Ampera's suspension and handling to the limits, even on the rare bumpy piece
of urban tarmac the Ampera soaked up shallow depressions with only a modest
rise in road noise.

Rounding
some sharp corners did generate a little body roll but nothing excessive; and
on motorways it pulled away sharply and strongly. Vauxhall do say that steep
hills will quickly drain the battery but you can pre-select the petrol engine
as a generator to conserve battery power for ascents or use in urban environments
to meet emissions requirements.

On test, the battery pack
was good for a typical
range of 45 miles before
it seamlessly and
automatically gave way to
the range extender
petrol engine  only
then did it sound more
like a conventional car
with a familiar but well-
dubbed engine note in
the background...

In
the Ampera, battery power and the electric motors drive the wheels at all times;
not the petrol engine. For the record, there's Voltec electric front-wheel drive,
a mid-mounted 380V lithium-ion battery pack powering low- and high-speed 16KW
motors, and a range extending four-cylinder 63KW (84bhp) petrol engine.

On test, the battery pack was good for a typical range of 45 miles before it
seamlessly and automatically gave way to the 'range extender' petrol engine
 only then did it sound more like a conventional car with a familiar
but well-dubbed engine note in the background.

As with most modern hatchbacks, the Ampera's bodystyle ensures good vision to
the front and sides but its high tail and shallow back window restrict rearward
visibility  a lower glass screen in the fifth door helps some but
you still need sensors or a rear-facing camera to help, as well as looking over
your shoulder. Boot space is reasonable and, despite the high tail, access very
good.

The driver has two displays on the fascia: in front is an 'on-road' screen displaying
speed, active power mode, battery and efficiency indicators along with other
warning lights; the second display, sited on top of the centre stack, is a multi-function
screen for climate, music, navigation, economy and range calculation. Some information
is duplicated across both screens, and I found there was possibly too much information
being displayed with your eyes having to flit over two screens some inches apart.
I did, however, like the soft-touch console buttons  a first in
this class of car.

Recharging the Ampera is easy: the charging port is on the left wing and it's
a simple, ten-second job to hook up the on-board power cable to a suitable electric
ring main  it doesn't require any special high-power source and
takes approximately four hours to fully charge a flat battery. For peace of
mind, the Ampera comes with a lifetime mechanical and 8-year battery/generator
guarantee.

Technically different to anything else you are likely to drive, it has been
designed to be familiar to operate and means most motorists won't have to compromise
to be clean 'n' green. Just keep their eyes and ears open! Robin
Roberts